/Paul Cooper
08AI automation

AI automation, scoped and shipped.

Most AI work is either a chatbot that dies in procurement or a programme that produces a wiki. There is a third option. A small, senior project that scopes the bet, then ships the build.

At a glance

2 TO 3 WEEKS · DISCOVERY

Find what's worth building.

from £4k

6 TO 12 WEEKS · BUILD

Ship the thing.

from £35k

MONTHLY · EMBEDDED

Stay close after launch.

from £5k/mo

Guide prices, ex-VAT, ex-travel beyond the UK. Most projects start with Discovery and decide from there. Stop after Discovery if the bet is not worth taking.

Why this exists

Right now, most teams trying to use AI land in one of two places. A small chatbot pilot that dies somewhere in procurement, or a long programme that produces a wiki and a roadmap and not much else.

This is the third option. Senior, fast, and shipping. One person who can sit in the workflow, design the surface, and write the code, with a procurement-friendly shape on the outside.

What you get

  • A clear answer to what should we build, and why, written down.
  • A short brief you can defend to procurement, risk, and a CTO.
  • A working prototype or proof of concept where it helps.
  • A build plan with realistic effort and confidence numbers.
  • If we proceed, a production-ready surface, shipped fast.

Phases

PhaseTimelineOutputPricing
Discovery2 to 3 weeksBrief, prototype, build planfrom £4k
Build6 to 12 weeksShipped surface, in productionfrom £35k
EmbeddedMonthlySenior support, no headcountfrom £5k/mo

Reading the shapeDiscovery and Build are fixed scope. Embedded is a monthly retainer. Guide prices, ex-VAT, ex-travel beyond the UK. Final quote scoped to your situation.

DISCOVERY · 2 TO 3 WEEKS · FROM £4,000 TO £6,000

Find what's worth building.

A focused look at one workflow, surface, or team where AI could move the needle this quarter. We talk to the people who know, look at the work, and write down something you can defend internally.

For who

Teams who suspect AI matters here, but don't yet have a brief they can hand to a delivery team or a procurement function.

Deliverables

  • A short written brief, no padding, that names the problem and the bet.
  • A working prototype or proof of concept where it sharpens the decision.
  • A build plan with effort, sequencing, and confidence ratings.
  • A clear recommendation, including stop if that's the honest answer.

From you

  • Access to two or three people inside the workflow.
  • Whatever existing research, tickets, or analytics already live in the org.
  • A working session each week to keep direction tight.

Stop here

Stop after Discovery if the brief says the bet isn't worth taking. You leave with a defensible plan and the option to stop.

BUILD · 6 TO 12 WEEKS · FROM £35,000 TO £75,000, FIXED SCOPE

Ship the thing.

If Discovery surfaces something worth shipping, I build it. Solo for small surfaces, or embedded with your team for bigger ones. Production code, instrumented, maintainable, handed over.

For who

Teams with a brief in hand who need senior hands on the actual product, fast, without standing up a new team.

Deliverables

  • A shipped product surface or internal tool, in production.
  • Code, design system entries, and prompts, all in your repo.
  • Instrumentation so you can see if the bet paid off.
  • A handover doc and a working session with whoever owns it next.

From you

  • A named owner on your side, even part-time.
  • Access to the relevant repos, design files, and staging environment.
  • A weekly review slot for shipping cadence.

Stop here

Stop here when the surface is live and instrumented. You either iterate in-house, or move into Embedded support.

EMBEDDED · MONTHLY · FROM £5,000 TO £10,000 A MONTH

Stay close after launch.

Fractional senior support once something is live. Iteration, the next bet, unblocking your team, and staying close to the tooling as it shifts under everyone's feet.

For who

Teams who have shipped, want to keep momentum, and don't want to add a permanent headcount yet.

Deliverables

  • A regular cadence of pairing, review, and shipping with your team.
  • An ongoing read on which AI tools are worth adopting and which aren't.
  • Light touch on the surfaces I built, plus help on whatever comes next.

From you

  • A small, named group of people who I work with each week.
  • Clarity on the current bet, refreshed each month.

Stop here

Month to month. Stop, pause, or scale up at any point. No annual lock-in.

Who it's for

Mid and large teams who want outcomes, not AI theatre. Leaders who need something they can defend to procurement, risk, and a CTO. Teams with ideas, but no clean route to shipping. The sectors below are illustrative, not the whole list.

Health and wellbeing

Where the workflow is heavy on clinical or operational language and the cost of getting it wrong is real. Discovery focuses on what is safe to assist, what stays human, and what the audit trail looks like.

  • Triage and intake assistants, with a human in the loop.
  • Care-team tooling that compresses admin, not clinical judgement.
  • Internal copilots for ops, billing, and member services.

Financial services and building societies

Where procurement, risk, and compliance sit at the table from day one. Discovery is shaped to produce artefacts those functions can actually sign off on.

  • Member-facing assistants with clear data boundaries.
  • Internal tools for advisers, underwriters, and operations.
  • Workflow compression in onboarding, KYC, and servicing.

Working style

Cadence

  • Kickoff in week one, scope agreed in writing.
  • Weekly working session with a named owner on your side.
  • Shipping rhythm from week one of Build, no big-bang reveals.

Tooling

  • Claude Code as the day-to-day driver, modern web stack on the output side.
  • Notion for written outputs, your repo for code, your design files for design.
  • Light instrumentation by default, so we can see if the bet paid off.

How we work together

  • Solo, when the surface is small and the team is busy.
  • Embedded with your team, when the surface touches more than one group.
  • Either way, senior level, hands on the work, no juniors behind the curtain.

Questions

Do we have to start with Discovery?
Yes. It keeps risk low and value visible. You can stop after Discovery with a brief and a plan, and the cost of stopping is small.
Can you work through procurement?
Yes. Day rate, fixed fee, statement of work, master services agreement, whatever fits your function. UK-based, can invoice in GBP, EUR, or USD.
How do you handle data and security?
Constraints get scoped up front. Most Discovery work runs without touching sensitive data. For Build, I work inside your tools and your access boundaries. Happy to sign NDAs and DPAs, and to work in locked-down environments for regulated sectors.
Do you integrate with our existing systems?
I work inside your repo, your design files, and your stack. The point is to leave you with code your team can own, not a parallel system.
Can you work alongside our internal team?
Yes. Most Build engagements are embedded. The framing is accelerator, not replacement. Your team owns the work after handover.
What if Discovery finds nothing worth building?
Then the brief says so, in writing, with the reasoning. That outcome is rare, and it is still useful, because it stops a bad bet before the expensive part starts.
Fixed fee, or day rate?
Fixed fee for Discovery and Build, scoped up front. Embedded support is a monthly retainer. Day rate is available where your procurement function prefers it.
What does it cost?
Discovery from £4,000 to £6,000. Build from £35,000 to £75,000, fixed scope. Embedded from £5,000 to £10,000 a month. All ex-VAT, ex-travel beyond the UK. Final quote scoped to your situation, usually after a short call.

Book

Book a 45 minute intro call, or send a note with the workflow you have in mind, your timeframe, and the stakeholders involved. I reply within a working day.

Email

pjcooper.design@gmail.com

References available on request.